As mentioned above, most microscopic approaches to fission are based on the
nuclear energy density functional (EDF) framework [1]}. The term
energy density functional methods encompasses both a set of general many-body
techniques such as the Hartree-Fock, BCS and Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theories,
the QRPA or the generator coordinate method, and an approximation for the
in-medium nuclear forces inside the nucleus. The many-body techniques offer an
ansatz for the many-body wave function representing the nucleus, while the
effective Hamiltonian, or energy functional, modeling nuclear forces, ensures
that said ansatz “works” and allows reproducing nuclear observables such as
binding energies, excited states, etc.
